Spring 2025 Mendicant Introduction
Since Fr. Richard published The Universal Christ in 2019, many of us on the CAC team heard him say, “If I ever wrote another book, which I assuredly don’t have the energy to do, it would be on the way of the prophet, and what the prophetic lineage has to teach us.”
I must have heard Richard say that a dozen times before, and—wouldn’t you know it—Richard completed the book. After undergoing multiple rounds of cancer treatments and other serious health challenges, it has been an incredible gift to see Richard given the time and energy to finish his “newest last book ever,” with the publication of The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage.
“My favorite thing about the prophetic books of the Bible is that they show a whole series of people in evolution of their understanding of God. Like most of us, the prophets started not only with judgementalism and anger but also with a superiority complex of placing themselves above others. Then, in various ways, that outlook falls apart over the course of their writings. They move from that anger and judgmentalism to a reordered awareness in which they become more like God: more patient like God, more forgiving like God, more loving like God.”
—Richard Rohr
In this issue of The Mendicant, we are excited to share an excerpt of Richard’s new book alongside articles from two of Richard’s most beloved teachers, Mirabai Starr and the late Dr. Barbara Holmes, who transitioned peacefully on October 15th, 2024. Dr. Holmes (known to many as “Dr. B”) joined CAC’s core faculty in 2019. She was an incredibly wise elder, teacher, and essential voice in shaping the CAC.
We were deeply grateful to honor and celebrate Dr. B at our Students of Life gathering in Albuquerque, New Mexico, just a few days after her passing. As CAC’s Dean of the Core Faculty Brian McLaren shared: “May her “intelligence on fire” continue to burn within us as we move forward in love, action, and contemplation.” Photos from that special event are included in this issue.
We are honored to share with you these articles from Richard Rohr, Mirabai Starr, and our beloved Dr. Barbara Holmes.